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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Al Gore: Waiting in the wings ![]() Americans are examining what might be the new first family ![]() He's been called everything from the "wooden man" to the "Mr Clean" of American politics. Al Gore could be president of the United States sooner than even he expected, writes Jane Black.
Good old Gore American columnist and political pundit Michael Kinsley once wrote that Al Gore is an old person's idea of what a young person should be.
Mr Gore graduated from Harvard University, served in Vietnam and later worked as an investigative journalist in his native state of Tennessee. In 1976, he was elected to the House of Representatives before being elected to the senate in 1984.
Primed for leadership His father - Al Gore Sr - was an influential senator and Mr Gore spent much of his childhood mixing with the Washington elite. Mr Clinton also has given Al Gore unprecedented access, training and support for his own run for the presidency in 2000. "I rely on him and have entrusted matters to him and have involved him in the day-to-day operations of virtually everything that I do to an extent that actually has no parallel in American history," Mr Clinton said. Nobody's perfect
Following the 1996 election, he was accused of illegally making fundraising calls from inside the White House and attending a questionable fundraising event at a Buddhist temple. The environmental community - once his most reliable base - also recently denounced him for abandoning his principles at the Kyoto climate conference. Nevertheless, what is foremost in many people's minds in the context of the latest Clinton scandal is Mr Gore's reputation as a family man. "In the personal realm, there is not a hint of a problem for Al Gore," said National Public Radio White House correspondent Mara Liasson. "There are rumours about many politicians in Washington, but never, ever has there been a rumour that Al Gore had a problem with infidelity." Democrat or Republican, right now, that may be all the American people really want. ![]() |
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